Fuel-feeding apparatus.



G. L. SWIFT..

FUEL FEEDING APPARATUS. APPucATloN man :uw: 16, 1910.

Mmmm? Patented May 38, 1915.

3 SHEETS-SHEET l.

G. L. SWIFT.

FUEL FEEDING APPARATUS.

APPLICATION FILI-:D IuIIE I6. 1910.

LMQQG?. l Patented May I8, 1915.

3 SHEETS-SHEET 2.

G. l.. SWIFT.

FUEL FEEDING APPARATUS.

APPLICATION FILED IuNIi I6. 1910.

Patented May I8, 1915.

3 SHEETS-SHEET 3.

GEORGE LATHBOP SWIFT, OF CHICAGO, ILLINOIS.

FUEL-FEEDING APPARATUS..

Specification of Letters Yatent.

Patented May 18, 19I5.

Application led .Tune 16, 1910. Serial No. 567,149.

T0 all whom t may concer/n:

Be it known that I, GEORGE L. SWIFT, a citizen of the United States, residing at Chicago, county of Cook, State of Illinois, have made a certain new and useful Inventionv in Fuel-Feeding Apparatus, of which the following is a specification.

This invention relates to improvements in apparatus for feeding fuel to furnaces.

The object of the invention is to provide means which are simple and efficient for feeding fuel to furnaces.

A further object is to provide an apparatus of the nature referred to wherein the fuel feeding apparatus is combined with the door in the furnace front in such manner as to be readily applied to the furnace front and to afford ample space for a door of sul'iicient size to permit inspection of the interior of the fire chamber and the fire bed.

A further object is to provide means for efficiently feeding the fuel to and discharging' the same into the furnace, in suitable manner to distribute the same from side to side thereof and to adjustably regulate the trajectory of the fuel particles when thrown from the feeding apparatus into the furnace chamber.

Other objects of the invention will appear more fully hereinafter.

The invention consists substantially in the construction, combination, location and relative arrangement of parts, all as will be more fully hereinafter set forth, as shown in the accompanying drawings, and finally pointed out in the appended claims.

Referring to the accompanying drawings, and to the various views and reference signs appearing thereon, Figure 1, is' a view in side elevation, parts broken off, and parts in section on the line 1, 1, Fig. 5, looking in the direction of the arrows, of a fuel feeding apparatus embodying my invention. Fig. 2, is a vertical central section of the same, on the line 2, 2, Fig. 5, looking in the direction of the arrows. Fig. 3, is a view in vertical section on the line 3, 3, Fig. 2, looking in the direction of the arrows. Fig. 4, is a de tached. broken, detail view in section on a somewhat larger scale than Fig. 2, of one of the centrifugal feeding arms and the cooperating adjustable hopper bottom. Fig. 5. is a broken view in vertical section on the line 5, 5, Fig. 2, looking in the direction of the arrows. broken view in Fig. 6, is a section on the line 6, 6, Fig. 3. Fig. 7, is a broken detail view in section showing the bearmg sleeve of the adjustable hopper-bottom or feeding frame withdrawn to permit the removal of said bottom or frame. Fig.

8, is a detached detail view in section of the adjustable hopper bottom or feeding frame.

The same part is designated by the same reference sign wherever it occurs throughout the several views.

In my pending application, Serial Number 362,294 filed March 14, 1907, I have shown, described and claimed an apparatus for feeding ine fuel to furnaces wherein the fuel is deposited into a hopper, and by suitable agitating devices is delivered into the path of centrifugally operated blades mounted on a rotating carrier, the said blades operating to project the fuel into the furnace.

rIhe present invention relates generally to apparatus of this class, and embodies certain features of improvement over the construction of my said application as will be more fully hereinafter set forth.

In the drawings reference sign 10, designates the hopper into which the fuel is deposited, and from which such fuel is decentrifugally operated means for projecting the same into the furnace chamber. The hopper proper is supported on a casing 11, suitably bolted or otherwise secured to a frame 12, adapted to be secured to the front plate 13 of a furnace chamber. One difficulty heretofore experienced with apparatus of this nature is that the opening from the hopper or its casing into the furnace chamber, being located above the furnace door, occupied so much of the space available for the furnace door that it was necessary to very materially reduce the size of the door and the opening which it controls thereby reducing the available space through which the iire bed may be tended. In order to avoid this objection I propose to apply the frame 12, which supports the hopper and its casing, as Well as livered to rotary the operating parts of the apparatus, di-

opening 15, from the hopper supporting casj Suitably journaled in the side pieces of the hopper supporting casing 11, is a shaft 16, adapted to receive rotary motion from' any suitable or convenient source, as, for instance through a sprocket chain operating over a sprocket 17. The ends of the shaft 16, are journaled in bushings or sleeves 18,

' removably inserted in journal blocks 19, the

latter being adjustably mounted in the side pieces of casing 11. By this arrangement the shaft 16, may be readily and easily adjusted with reference to the delivery opening 15, into the lfurnace. chamber. A delivery apron 20, is suspended upon the shaft' 16, for angular adjustment about the axis of said shaft. To this end the a ron 20 1s provided at its ends with the en pieces 21 in which are formed bearing openings 22, see Figs. 6, 7, and 8, of larger size than the diameter of shaft 16. Slots 23, extend laterally from the' bearing openings 22, to the edges of the end pieces 21. By this construction the lfeeding apron may be readily and easily slipped into place upon theshaft 16, the latter passing laterally through the slots 23, and into the enlarged openings 22. The inner ends of the removable bearing sleeves or bushings 18 are then forced 1nto the enlarged openings 22, and thus form 1 journal bearings for the ends of thel feeding apron. By withdrawing the sleeves 18, as shown in Fig. 7, the feeding apron 20, may be readily removed. A .h

In fuel feeding devices of the class to which my invention relates the eiciency of fuel will be thrown. I have found it exthe furnace the fuel is projecteddepends upon the relative ad'ustment of the lip of the apron .over and rom which the fuel is given its throw into the furnace. The higher this delivery-lipthe farther will be the distance into the furnace chamber the ceedingly desirable in practice'to re'gulate the height of this delivery lip', as thereby, I

' 'i 'l am enabled to maintain anbetter control of the feeding operation ,according to practical furnace conditions encountered. In order to accomplish this result, I provide means f for angularly adjusting the feeding apron about the axis of the shaft 16. 'I

The varrangement above described for `hinging the feeding apron to rock about the axis of shaft 16, enables me to secureA the de- 'Ihe angular ad'u'stment referred to may be accomplished 1n many different .ways. Ihave shown a simple einprinciples' involved, wherein I providethe feeding apron with a shoulder p24, with which coperates an adjusting screw 25, tapped through a fixed lug or plate 26, bolted to the cross piece 27, of the hopper supporting casing 11.

It is exceedingly desirable to deliver the fuel over a sharp edge of the feeding apron. In apparatus of this class great difficulty has been experienced by reason of the fact that instead of delivering ,the fuel directly from the edge of a feeding apron into the chamber the fuel has been progressed along a supporting surface therefor extending from the path of rotating feedingarms a considerable distance toward the furnace chamber. Serious dificulties are developed from this arrangement. In the rst place control of the fuel in the feeding `operation is lost the instant the fuel leaves the rotating feeding blades and consequently where the fuel is required, to travel, along a supporting ledge or surface after leaving the propelling contact' therewith of the feeding blades, the force applied thereto by the feeding blades is materially diminished hence seriously impairing the efficiency of the feed. Again, the extended surface referred to permits the collectionI of fuel dust and small' 4injuring the` same and its associated parts by the expansion thereof. The difficulty arising from undue heating of the delivery edge of the ledge or apron from which the fuel is delivered also is encountered where l said edge presents any material, vertical area toward the furnace chamber. Even the thickness of the sheet or plate employed for such purpose is sufficient to develop trouble o from this source by reason of the eddy curthe feed of the fuel, andthe distance intorents of air or dead spacewhich said vertical surface creates, thereby causing intense heat at the point indicated resulting in injury or rapid burning out and destruction of the parts. To obviate all these difliculties in the present instance, I arrange the feed- -ing arms or blades to coperate with the ex- -in the drawings, thereby avoiding the creation of a' dead space or eddy currents of air at this point.

In apparatus of this nature as heretofore employed where centrifugal feeding arms have been used, there has been a failure to secure the best results by reason of mechanicalV diiculties encountered in the construcmedew j v -of them may be readily removed and re placed or renewed. In carrying out my invention in this particular I mount collars 30, upon the ends'of shaft 16,- inside the side pieces 21, of the feeding plate, and

- I connect the collars by rods 31. The feeding arms or blades are provided with hubs 32 which are independent and loosely sleeved upon the rods 31.- The hubs 32, are provided with lugs 33, which form stops to limit the extent to which centrifugal action tends to rock or swing the feeding arms, said lugs being arranged to contact or abut against the shaft 16, for this'purpose. The feeding arms, in the form shown, comprise the wing portions 34, having the hubs 32, at their inner ends,'and carrying the blades 35, at their outer or free ends. rIhese blade portions are curved on their outer periphery on the arc of a circle struck from the axis of shaft 16, as a center, and the feeding apron 20, on the inner surface thereof is curved to the same radius, so that, in operation, when the shaft 16, is rotated rapidly the blades 35, are swung out by centrifugal force so that the extreme outer curved surface of the blades travels in close concentric relation with respect to the inner curved surface of the feeding apron 20. 'Ihe distance the particles of fuel may be projected into the furnace chamber is dependent largely on the projectingv forcel applied. to it. In order to dis- -tribute the fuel from the front to the reary end of the fuel chamber, that is, to cause the same fuel projecting blade to throw fuel particles to the far end of the furnace as well as to the front end and intermediate arts, I provide means for varying the projecting force exerted at different points of the blades upon the fuel projected thereby.

. jecting bladesy obliquely to their path of ThisI accomplish by setting the fuel protravel, an'd`arrang1ng the entire blade, and

every portion of it to lie behind or in rear of a plane containing the axes of `the shaft 16, and of the hinge of the freely swinging arm 34, carrying the blade. With this arrangement it is obvious that the front end of the blade will project a particle offuel a farther distance into the furnace chamber 'than the rear end of said blade, because the front end of the blade has the entire mass of the blade and its carrying arm as a propelling force behind it,"and this is not true of the rear end of the' obliquely set blade. The reason for lthis' action is "that Tried by any rod`31,

centrifugal action is dependent, in its e'ect upon the feeding operationl of the arms, upon the resistance to the rotating movement of the 'cylinder which'carries the arms, and consequently is dependent upon the resistance afforded by the fuel in advance of the arms. Consequently'it will be readily seen and understood that when the resistance offered by the fuel in advance of an arm is reduced to zero, which occurs when thearm reaches the edge of the apron plate over which the delivery of the fuel is effected, there is a corresponding decrease in pressure in advance of the arm and consequently the centrifugal force actin through the mass of the arm becomes e ective to move the arm forwardly, and since that resistance decreases from end to end of the obliquely shaped arm, it results that there is a distribution of fuel' to different distances of projection into the furnace because the distributing force reduces from the front toward the rear edge of the' arm. This would not take place if the arms were rigidly mounted, but since the arms 4are yieldingly and pivotally mounted the centrifugal force becomes eHective to accomplish the results stated. 'Ihis feature of my invention I regard as a most valuable and important one as it enables me to properly distribute` the fuel from end to end of the furnace and therefore maintain an even uniform bed of re in the furnace.

In order to properly direct the delivery of the fuel to both sides of the furnace arrange the blades hand relation, as clearly shown in Fig. 3. Since the blades 35, are hinged on the rods 31, and outof concentric relation with respect to the axis of shaft 16, it will be apparent that unless restrained centrifugal force would cause the blades 35 to rock or swing into contact with the apron 20. 'Ihe limit or stop lugs 33, prevent this, and to insure this result, I so position each rodw31, with reference to the shaft 16, that a plane containing the axes of said rod and shaft will also bound the extreme forward part, surface or end of the blades 35 carried by said rod. In other words, the blades carlie wholly behind a plane containing the rod and shaft 16. Any blade or feeding arm may be readily removed and replaced by simply removing its supporting rod 31. Any desired number of rods31, may beemployed, and any desired number of feeding arms may be sleeved upon each rod.- l lI have found yin practice that .it is desirable to deliver thefuel yto the` rotarygcen- 1 105 35, in right and left trifugally operated feeding arms, and to the feeding apron, from a point above said apronand the path of said arms. It will be observed that the feeding apron 20, in effect forms an angularly adjustable bottom for the hopper and its casing. The cross bar 27, of the casing 11, forms an overhanging flat ledge or surface over the upper edge of this apron, and in such relation thereto that fuel pushed over the extreme edge of said flat ledge or surface falls vertically downward by gravity directly into the path ofthe feeding arms. Arranged within the hopper 10, is an inclined baflie plate 40, which delivers onto a stepped platform 41, which is carried by the reciprocatory frame 42. Also carried by this frame is a pusher bar 43. This pusher bar 43, and the platform 41, are in fixed relation with respect to each other, the former being located below the latter. and presenting its working face in an opposite direction with reference thereto. The pusher bar 43, slides back and forth over the upper surface of the ledge or cross bar 27, while the platform 41, moves back and forth beneath the lower edge of the baffle plate 40. 'y

The operation of this feature of my invention is very simple. With the hopper filled with fuel a reciprocatory movement is imparted to the platform 41, and the pusherl bar 42. The fuel will thereupon be pushed off of the outer edge of the platform by the lower edge of the baffle 40, when the platform moves inwardly, that is toward the left (see Fig. 2), and will fall upon the push bar. The stepped arrangement of the platform facilitates this action. en the platform/ and pusher bar again move outwardly, that is, toward the right, the fuel resting on the pusher bar, which, as shown, may also be stepped, is forced down in rear of the pusher bar by the edge portion 45, of the hopper, so that with the neXt rearward movement of the pusher bar the fuel will be pushed thereby along the upper surface of the cross piece 27, and delivered over the rear overhanging edge thereof to the rotary feeding arms. Any suitable or convenient means may be employed for reciprocating the platform and pusher bar. A simple arrangement is shown wherein the pusher bar 4 is engaged by a rock arm 46, mounted on a n through sprocket 53.

rock shaft 47. Also mounted on said shaft to rock therewith is an arm 48. A loosely swinging arm 49, is mounted on shaft 47, and is adjustably engaged by the arm 50 of an eccentric strap 51, mounted on a shaft 52, adapted to be driven from any suitable or convenient source,` as, for instance, The upper end of arm 49, plays loosely back and forth in a keeper 55, between the end of an adjustable set screw 56, and the rear wall 57, of the keeper,'thus affordingvconvenient means for` adjusting the extent of reciprocatory movement of the platform 41, and the pusher bar 42.

Many variations and changes in the details of construction and arrangement of the various parts will readily occur to persons skilled in the art and still fall within the spirit and scope of my invention. I do not desire, therefore, to be limited or restricted to the exact details shown and described.

But having now set forth the object and nature of my invention, and a construction embodying the principles thereof, what I claim as new and useful and of my own invention, and desire to secure by Letters Patent is:

1. In a fuel feeding apparatus, a hopper to receive the fuel, a horizontally extending platform located beneath the hopper and provided with a delivery edge, a reciprocatory frame arranged above said platform to move transversely to the delivery edge thereof, pusher hars carried byV said frame the one arranged above the other, and having reversely presenting pusher surfaces, the lowermost pusher bar operating upon and along the surface of the platform to push the fuel over the delivery edge thereof, and the upper pusher bar operating to deliver the fuel to the platform in front of the lower bar, a deflector plate arranged, within the hopper above the uppermost bar to direct the fuel thereto, and fuel feedingdevices located below the delivery edge of said platform.

`2. In a fuel feeding apparatus, a hopper to receive the fuel, a horizontally arranged platform'located below the hopper and having a delivery edge, a frame carried by the hopper, means for reciprocating the same in a direction transverse to the delivery edge of the platform, pusher bars carried by said frame and arranged within the hopper, the one above the other, said bars having reversely presenting pusher surfaces, the lowermost bar operating upon and along the surface ofthe platform to push the fuel over the delivery edge thereof, the uppermost bar and to deliver the same into a furnace.

4. In a fuel feeding apparatus, a hopper to receive the fuel, a frame mounted to move horizontally in the lower part of the hop- Macao? per, and provided with a forwardly operating part and a rearwardly operating part, the one located above the other, means for reciprocating said frame and fuel feeding devices located below said frame to receive the fuel therefrom and deliver the same into a furnace.

5. ln a fuel feeding apparatus, a hopper to receive the fuel, a frame mounted to move horizontally in the lower part of the hopper, and provided with a rearwardly acting pusher device, a forwardly acting device also carried by said frame and located above said pusher device, means for reciprocating said frame, and fuel feeding devices located below said frame to receive the fuel therefrom and deliver the same into a furnace.

6. In a fuel feeding apparatus, a hopper to receive the fuel, a frame mounted to move horizontally forwardly and rearwardly across the lower part of the hopper, and provided with reversely acting fuel moving devices the one located above the other, means for reciprocating said frame, means for adjustably regulating theextent of reciprocatory movement thereof, and fuel feeding devices located below said frame to receive the fuel therefrom and deliver the same.

7. lln a fuel feeding apparatus, a hopper,

a stationary platform therein, a reciprocatory frame operating horizontally forwardly and rearwardly across the lower part of the hopper and over said platform, reversely acting pushers carried by said frame and located the one above the other, a rock arm engaging said frame, a shaft carrying said arm, eccentric connections for rocking said shaft, and fuel feeding devices located below said frame.

ln testimony whereof l have hereunto set my hand in the presence of the subscribing witnesses, on this 7th day of June A. D., 1910.

GEORGE LATHROP SWllFT.

Witnesses:

GEO. W. HURRON, H. L. SWIFT. 

